Modern communication tools and applications are demanding higher and higher bandwidths to support increasing data throughputs. A popular solution to support the data throughput demands are optical communication networks. Optical communication networks are capable of supporting data bit-rates on the order of Gbits/s using a single optical fiber.
However, most modern communication tools and applications require bi-directional communications. Thus, optical communication networks must be capable of supporting bi-directional communications. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a known bi-directional optical communication system 100. Optical communication system 100 is a two-fiber solution. Optical communication system 100 addresses the bi-directional problem by providing two unidirectional optical fibers 105 and 110. An optical transceiver 115 transmits data for reception by an optical transceiver 120 using optical fiber 105. Optical transceiver 120 transmits data for reception by optical transceiver 115 using optical fiber 110. Thus, a closed communication loop is established for bi-directional communication using two optical fibers. However, the two-fiber solution requires laying/routing two physical optical fibers between the two communication nodes. Furthermore, it requires redundant optics and electronics in each of optical transceivers 115 and 120 for coupling to two separate optical fibers. Thus, the two-fiber solution achieves bi-directional communications at an increased cost, both in terms of an initial infrastructure investment and maintenance.